~ "Here Am I, Send Me!"

Martyrdom in the Early Church

Steve Kinnard asks us to “remember our brothers and sisters from the early church who were willing to die for the cause.”

I often think of how I would have fared in the days of persecution. I remember walking through the Coliseum in Rome. It’s debated, but most believe that this was one of the places in Rome where our brothers and sisters were fed to the lions. I asked myself as I was standing in the Coliseum, “What would you have done if you had been captured?” I don’t know for sure. I think a good test is this: How much am I willing to die to self each and every day for Jesus? If I’m not willing to die to self today, it’s unlikely that I would have been willing to face death by the cross or mutilation by the lions.